Pendulum of the Heart
by marioandsonicFTW
Summary: Inspired by the first episode of Arc V. This short story takes place in an alternate universe, where Duel Monsters is the most popular game in Equestria, so much so that it's been integrated into everypony's lives, much like the anime. One-Shot. If anyone likes it, I could write more chapters.


"THUMP THUMP"

The feeling of the heart pounding in your chest is the most exhilarating sensation you could feel. When you reach for the thing you want most and you feel your ticker thump powerfully in your body, pumping your blood through your veins, it fills you with energy and you just want to keep going.

"THUMP THUMP THUMP"

"Coming through!"

The sound of fast clopping of hooves sounded through the streets of Ponyville. Those hooves propelled a blue unicorn, with a blue eye on his left, a purple eye on his right, purple mane and tail, and a crescent moon and stars for a cutie mark, through town at a high speed. He weaved back, forth, and between other ponies on the road.

"Excuse me! Sorry!"

The roar of large dragon-like creature rang into his ears and that signified that he had arrived where he wanted to be: Ponyville Square. However, for such a small town, the square was bustling with various fearsome creatures and monsters of many sizes and varieties, yet, the town was far from being in danger from such creatures, because all of them were under the control of many ponies, all of them wearing devices on their forelegs and holding cards in their hooves or with magic if they were unicorns.

"Whew! Made it!" The unicorn panted. "Time for Duel Hour!"

Midafternoon. The best time of day to find a pony to duel, since it was around the time of day where many ponies were on their way home from school or work and at that time, a good number of them want to have a duel or two in the square. Duel. That was the word that caused the blue unicorn's heart to race. A duel between two ponies and the monsters that they command through their cards. A battle of both strength and wits.

Duel Monsters was, by far, the most popular game in Equestria, played by mares and stallions of all ages. Some ponies play for fun, others for competition. But, no matter the reason, one thing about the game remains true: the monsters are all real. A fantastical combination of magic and technology produced the Duel Disk System. Duelists wear the Duel Disk on their forelegs and the amazing device uses magic to create a life-like manifestation of any card in play and the device itself keeps a constantly updating database system to regulate all gameplay styles and rules to ensure that every duel is played fairly.

The blue unicorn looked around, seeing so many ponies dueling each other. Their monsters were amazing, battling each other to protect their controllers and defeat their opponents by depleting their life points. He grinned as he eagerly searched for somepony to duel, his duel disk safely stowed in his saddlebag.

"AAH! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE, YOU KLUTZ!" A stallion on the edge of the square yelled.

"I-I'm really sorry, mister." A mare responded.

The unicorn look toward the commotion that was happening. He saw a tall, white unicorn stallion with blonde mane and a compass rose cutie mark. He looked deeply angered as he yelled at a familiar, grey, wall-eyed pegasus mare, who also had blonde mane, but had seven bubbles for her cutie mark. The blue unicorn recalled seeing her occasionally in passing, since Ponyville was a small town and everypony knew mostly everypony else. The unicorn stallion, on the other hand, was a new face.

"'Sorry' is no excuse! Look! You've absolutely ruined my luxurious coat with your dirty peasant hooves! I never should've come to this town in the first place!" The stallion exclaimed in a fit of somewhat childish rage.

"Y-You're coat looks fine, mister." The mare replied, trembling before the angry unicorn.

"Of course, a low life commoner like you can't see the damage you've caused! I might as well teach you a lesson!" He said, using his unicorn magic to grab the wall-eyed mare by her tail.

If there was only one thing that the blue unicorn absolutely couldn't stand, it was bullying. Yes. He had his own experience with bullying when he was a small colt. He hated it. He knew that the grey mare was sometimes unlucky and a bit clumsy. In fact, he had a few times where he would literally butt heads with her, but she had a good heart and was always kind and apologetic. The last thing she needs is someone to bully her.

"Hey!" The blue stallion spoke up. "You leave her alone!"

There was no going back now. The penny was in the air as the vain white unicorn's attention was pulled away from the mare and to the blue unicorn stallion.

"Hmph! What's this? Did you call on your ghastly-looking coltfriend to rescue you?" The white stallion huffed.

"Why don't you shut your trap and turn your flank around! She said she was sorry so leave her be!"

"Excuse me? I am Prince Blueblood and I don't care who this dunce of a mare thinks she is. She should watch where the Tartarus she's going."

"Pfft! Well, I'm Bright Sight and I don't care what narcissistic dumbbell you are. You should learn some respect!"

The prince laughed. "Learn some respect? For dirty ruffians like yourselves? HA! Learn your place, whelp!"

Blueblood's horn glowed and in a short flash of light, a white rectangular duel disk with some gold accents on the corners surrounding the screen interface appeared on his left foreleg. A golden pad of light for cards materialized from the disk. His deck was already loaded with the cards shuffled automatically. The mare took her chance to scurry behind Bright.

"I'd be more than glad to teach you." He said with a smug smirk on his face.

Bright's mouth curved into a grin. He was quick to remove his saddlebag and grab his own duel disk: a blue rectangular one with some yellow accents.

"Now you're speaking my language." He said, sliding the disk onto his leg.

"...Th-Thank you, mister." The mare said, gratefully.

"It's alright. And don't worry. This guy won't know what hit him." Bright replied with a wink. The mare smiled a bit and stepped back to watch from the sidelines.

"Duel Disk set!"

Bright's deck appeared from his disk expanding a bit and a card pad of purple light appeared as both his and Blueblood's disks were synchronized for dueling.

 **AUGMENTED REALITY COMBAT SYSTEM ENERGIZED**

"Let's duel!" Both stallions said as they drew their starting hoofs.

 **DUEL START [Bright LP: 4000] [Blueblood LP: 4000]**

"I'm starting this duel off!" Blueblood said. "The current rules of the game state that I cannot draw on my first turn, but that will not matter, since my current cards are sufficient to-"

"Are we gonna chat all day or are we gonna duel?" Bright asked jokingly, waving his hoof around.

"Hmph! So be it. I'll start by summoning my Noble Knight Borz to the field in attack mode!"

Blueblood set his monster card on his disk and at that very instant, a white male unicorn wearing heavy armor and a red cape appeared. He held a golden goblet with his magic. **[ATK: 1700] [LV: 4]**

"I cannot attack on my first turn, so I'll set one card face down and end my turn." The prince stated, setting a card on the Spell and Trap Card Zone. A large card, positioned face down, materialized on the field before disappearing for the moment.

"It's my move! I draw!" Bright said, grasping the top card of his deck with his magic and retrieving it to add to his card hand. "I summon from my hoof Performapal Sword Fish!"

As Bright set his monster on his disk, a blue swordfish, dressed in glasses and a polka dot bowtie, appeared. It bore a striking resemblance to a certain famous rock singer. **[ATK:600] [LV: 2]** Prince Blueblood broke into a bout of laughter.

"Ha! What's that weak little minnow supposed to do? Glub at my monster until it submits?"

"You'll see soon enough. I'm sure you know that in Duel Monsters, attack strength isn't the only thing that matters. Ya see, when this little guy is normal summoned to my field, all monsters you control lose 600 attack and defense points!"

"What!?"

Just then, the swordfish became duplicated and the copies lunged at the unicorn warrior before becoming lodged in the ground surrounding him. **[ATK: 1700 - 1100] [DEF: 900 - 300]**

"Hmph. No skin off my back." Blueblood said.

"I'll set my own face down. Your move, Blueblood!"

 **[Bright LP: 4000 Hand: 4] [Blueblood LP: 4000 Hand: 3]**

"Finally! I draw!" The white stallion announced as he drew his next card from his deck. "For my next move, I will activate an Equip Spell! Noble Arms - Gallatin! This mighty blade will strengthen my Borz by a full 1000 attack points!"

The white unicorn warrior donned a sword with a glowing silver blade and a golden handle, holding it with his magic, strengthening him with power. **[ATK: 1100 - 2100]**

"Noble Knight Borz's monster effect activates! Right now, Borz is treated as a normal monster, but when he is equipped with a Noble Arms Equip Spell, he gains one level and changes from a Light attribute monster to a Dark attribute! **[LV: 4 - 5] [ATTR: LIGHT - DARK]** There is a catch for the strength gained by Gallatin, however. My Noble Knight will lose 200 attack points whenever I pass my standby phase, but that won't matter right now. Borz, attack that fish!"

The soldier lunged forward, galloping toward Sword Fish to destroy it.

"Hold it! I activate my trap: Sakuretsu Armor!" Bright countered, revealing the card he had face down. "Since you decided to attack my Sword Fish, this trap will instantly destroy your monster!"

"Not unless I activate a trap of my own! Reveal Trap Stun!" Blueblood's own face down was activated. "This card will negate your trap's effects so my monster won't be destroyed!" The royal unicorn smirked.

"No!" Bright growled a bit.

"Yes! Now, Borz! Continue your attack!"

The warrior stallion resumed its advance on the fish and swung his sword at it. The fish was destroyed, dispersing into a flurry of golden dust. The remaining force from the attack was dealt to the blue pony in the form of a powerful shockwave. Bright was knocked backwards a bit as his life points fell. **[Bright LP: 4000 - 2500]**

"How does that feel, peasant?" Blueblood taunted, with that smug grin plastered on his face again.

Some ponies walking by and others who were also dueling stopped to see the battle between Bright and Prince Blueblood. A small crowd gathered, surrounding the two dueling unicorns.

"THUMP THUMP THUMP"

There it was, The fast beating of the heart. The feeling that Bright loved. He smiled a big smile before breaking into cheerful laughter.

"What's so funny!?" The prince inquired.

"Heh. Oh, nothing. Just how amazing this duel is. You might be a royal pain in the flank, but I have to hand it to you. You're a pretty skilled duelist." Bright chuckled.

"Hmm...Why, thank you." Blueblood grinned before it was quickly exchanged for a scowl. "Wait! What!? A royal pain!?" He growled.

"Of course! What kind of prince looks down at other ponies? What kind of royal would scream like a foal at somepony who just made an honest mistake or caused a small mishap?" Bright asked, glancing over at the derpy pegasus, who looked back, watching intently as she shuffled her hooves. "As a prince, you have a name to hold up."

"Silence! I'm not here for a lecture from a commoner. I'll show you your place soon enough. I set a face down card and end my turn!" The turn was then passed over to Bright, who sighed and shook his head before setting his mind back on the duel.

"My move! Draw!" Bright took a look at his new card and smiled. "Excellent! I summon my tuner monster, Junk Warrior, to the field!"

A short, stout, earth pony wearing orange armor made entirely of scrap metal and junk materialized onto the field. **[ATK: 1300] [LV: 3]**

"When my Junk Warrior is normal summoned, I can special summon one level 2 or lower monster from my graveyard!"

A single card was dispensed from the graveyard slot on Bright's duel disk.

"Say hello again to Performapal Sword Fish!"

A dark purple hole appeared on the field, a portal to the graveyard, and from the hole, the rock star fish reappeared, back in play. **[ATK: 600] [LV: 2]**

"A tuner monster and a normal monster!? You're going to-?"

"You guessed right! I use my Junk Warrior to tune my Performapal Sword Fish!" Bright announced.

Junk Warrior disappeared into a green light that transformed into three green rings. Sword Fish swam into the rings and started to shine with a golden light before becoming a pair of brilliant stars. **[LV: 3 + 2 = 5]**

"I Synchro Summon! Come on out, X-Saber Wayne!"

A large, burly-looking earth pony with huge shoulder pads and wearing a tattered blue cape over thick leather covering his whole body was summoned. He had a dark brown stetson on his head and was armed with a gun with a large blade at the end. **[ATK: 2100] [LV: 5]**

"X-Saber Wayne's effect activates! I'm allowed to special summon one warrior type monster from my hand that's level 4 or lower! I special summon another Junk Warrior!"

And just like that, a second Junk Warrior came to being alongside Wayne.

"And now, I'll tune Wayne with my second Junk Warrior!" Bright shouted.

"Two Synchro Summons in one turn!?" Blueblood was dumbfounded.

The crowd watching the two duel "Ooh'd" and "Aah'd" as Junk Warrior transformed into 3 rings yet again. Wayne flew into them and glowed just like Sword Fish before him, becoming five stars. **[LV: 3 + 5 = 8]**

"THUMP THUMP THUMP"

Bright's heart beat wildly in his chest as the rush and excitement of the duel filled him with so much joy. He smiled widely as he called forth a new monster.

"I Synchro Summon again! Take flight, Stardust Dragon!"

A brilliant white dragon with large majestic wings and scales that shimmered like the stars of the night sky materialized as a result of Bright's summoning. **[ATK: 2500] [LV: 8]**

"Stardust! Attack Noble Knight Borz with Cosmic Flare!"

The stellar dragon charged energy in its large maw before unleashing it on the unicorn warrior on the opposing side. The knight was obliterated in the occurring blast and Blueblood felt the difference in damage through a shockwave. **[Blueblood LP: 4000 - 3600]**

"With that, I end my turn." Bright concluded.

 **[Bright LP: 2500 Hand: 2] [Blueblood LP: 3600 Hand: 2]**

"How...dare you! You've completely ruined my stylized mane!" The prince yelled, reacting to a couple of strands of mane that were out of place.

"Oh, I'm so sorry...Sorry that you don't have anything better to do with your life than being a vain, egotistical mule." Bright deadpanned.

"A MULE!? A filthy, ugly mule!?" Blueblood snorted angrily. "Oh, that is IT! You're going to pay, you spleeny miscreant! I draw!"

Blueblood took one look at his card before his mad scowl curled into a devilish grin.

"I activate the spell, Graceful Charity! This card allows me to draw three new cards as long as I discard two cards afterwards! I draw my three cards!"

The prince gladly grabbed the top three cards in his deck and discarded the two cards that were already in his hand. He looked at his new set of cards and his grin turned more sinister.

"I activate my Raigeki spell card! This card will destroy every single monster on your side of the field! Bid adieu to your Stardust Dragon!" The white unicorn laughed as thick dark clouds overhead shadowed the field in darkness. Thunder boomed and lightning cracked over Stardust Dragon, about to eliminate the winged reptile.

"I won't let you! I activate my Stardust's special ability! Victim Sanctuary! By tributing my dragon and sending it to the graveyard, I can negate your Raigeki spell card! And at the end of your turn, I can special summon it back to my field!"

"HA! I thought you'd try to save your dragon! Reveal trap! Breakthrough Skill!" Blueblood announced, flipping his face down card.

"Huh?"

"This trap will negate your monster's special ability! Say goodbye to Stardust Dragon!"

The majestic dragon was helpless as the devastating power of the electric storm struck it, causing the dragon to break apart into stardust.

"Stardust! No!" Bright shouted.

"And now you're left without any defense! The time to strike is now! Bid greetings and salutations to the lovely Lady of the Lake as I normal summon her!"

A white alicorn, wearing an elegant pale blue dress and a silver necklace was materialized onto the field. Her mane was long and flowing, having the color of very pale blonde, and she carried with her a sword of gold with glowing red and blue highlights on each edge of the blade, Excalibur, the legendary sword. **[ATK: 200] [LV: 1]**

"My Lady of the Lake's special ability activates! When she is normal summoned, I can special summon a Noble Knight monster from my graveyard! Come forth, Noble Knight Gawayn!"

The dark purple portal to the graveyard appeared again, and from it came an orange earth pony in golden armor, wearing a green cape, materialized on the field. **[ATK: 1900] [LV: 4]**

"Wait! How was that monster in your graveyard? It was never destroyed." Bright inquired.

"True. My Gawayn was never on the field to begin with, but as I'm sure you recall, Graceful Charity had me discard two cards from my hand. Gawayn was one of them. And now comes the time for me to deliver the coup de grace! Since Lady of the Lake is a tuner monster, I will tune her with Gawayn!"

The Lady of the Lake transformed herself into one green ring and Gawayn galloped his way through the ring, shining like gold before becoming four glimmering stars. **[LV: 1 + 4 = 5]**

"Watch closely while I bring about your end soon enough! I Synchro Summon! Noble knight consumed by darkness. Bring forth the power of your twin blades and assure my victory! Appear, Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn!"

From the result of Blueblood's summoning came a black unicorn warrior with glowing red eyes. He wore thick metal armor that was accented with blood red on the chest piece and gauntlets. In his magical grasp, he carried two swords: one of gold and one with a glowing red blade. **[ATK: 2100] [LV: 5]**

The surrounding crowd of spectators gasped in awe and slight panic. They all saw that the duel was taking a turn for the worse for Bright and after it seemed that he had the upper hoof just last turn.

"THUMP THUMP"

Bright stood there, his whole body paralyzed, except for his own heart, which was beating hard, but not from joy and thrill, like earlier, but from fear. He couldn't help but stare at the fearsome monster. He had no form of defense whatsoever and no card in his hand could help him.

"My Ignoble Knight's special ability activates! When it is Synchro Summoned to the field, I am able to retrieve one Noble Arms equip spell from my deck and equip it onto my Knight!" The prince grinned.

A card was dispensed from the middle of the white unicorn's deck and he took it, activating it immediately afterwards.

"I equip Ignoble Knight with Noble Arms of Destiny! With this equiped to my monster, he cannot be destroyed by battle or by any card effects, once per turn." Blueblood laughed.

The black unicorn warrior lost his golden sword and in its place appeared a large shield, forged with pure platinum.

"Now, my Knight, strike down the mongrel with your battle-hungry blades! Attack him directly!"

The dark warrior galloped at full speed to the blue unicorn and slashed both of his swords at him. With nothing to protect himself, Bright took the full force of the attack and was thrown backwards, tumbling back a few feet. **[Bright LP: 2500 - 400]**

"Oof!" He grunted as he finally settled on his stomach.

The wall-eyed mare that Bright stood up for closed her eyes when the unicorn was struck. She felt bad. She felt responsible for this. Even though it was Bright who chose to protect her, she thought it was her fault for getting into trouble with Blueblood in the first place.

"I'm so sorry, mister…" She whispered.

"Well, would you look at this! A filthy peasant who thought he could finish victorious over me. Now look at him. On the ground, practically trampled on like a bug." Blueblood laughed. "You wanted to teach me respect? Well, I respect that you are just a grovelling idiot and that is all you shall ever be!"

Blueblood set the last card in his hoof face down on the field.

"Now, draw your last useless card so that I may finish you next turn!" He said with a smirk.

 **[Bright LP: 400 Hand: 4] [Blueblood LP: 3600 Hand: 0]**

"THUMP"

"THUMP"

"THUMP"

The beat was slow and steady. Bright's heart lost its vigor and zeal. And now what was left? Just a heartbeat with nothing else aside from proof that the unicorn was still alive. But what now?

Bright groaned as he shakily got up to his hooves. He looked at the white unicorn across from him with his victorious grin. That was it. He had lost. He looked at his card hand. Nothing in it was immediately helpful to him. Performapal Whip Snake perhaps...but Bright was sure that Blueblood's face down card was something that would ruin whatever counter he had.

His gaze turned to a card with a black unicorn mage on it. The unicorn was wearing a thick leather coat and a gauntlet on one of its forelegs with a long blade that somewhat resembled the gears of a clock. His brown mane was spiky under his wizard's hat, which also had a clock gear on it and the red scarf he wore around his neck masked his muzzle up to over his nose. Timegazer Magician. One of his three favorite cards in his deck. A mage with the power to control the flow of time. But turning back the clock on this duel wouldn't help because Bright played all of his cards as best as he could. Timegazer's monster effect, where, once per turn, one spell or trap he controlled would be protected from destruction, wouldn't help and with an attack of 1200, what could he do?

The card next to the time unicorn was the second of Bright's favorites: Odd-Eyes Dragon. A mysterious reptile with thick red armor over his shoulders, legs, head, and the end of his tail and had white spikes protruding from his back. A large blue spherical jewel was embedded in his chest and, as his name suggests, his eyes were definitely odd as his left one was deep emerald green and his right was bright crimson red. One of the first cards he ever received when he was learning how to duel and the one he could most relate to since they both shared heterochromatic eyes. If only he could summon him to the field right now. With an attack of 2500 and the ability to inflict damage equal to half of his opponent's monster's attack power when destroyed by battle, he'd surely give Bright a chance, but he was a level 7 monster and required 2 monsters to tribute first before summoning.

The odds of the next card in his deck being exactly what he needs were slim to none. Bright looked over at the wall-eyed mare to his right with a defeated, somber expression on his face.

"I...I can't beat him...I'm sorry…" Was all he could say.

"THUMP"

"THUMP"

Then, Bright's line of sight shifted away from the grey pegasus and over to something else, or rather, somepony else. Bright saw, in the crowd of ponies watching, a red earth stallion, looking directly at him. He recalled seeing the red stallion on occasion in passing or sometimes exchanging a greeting with him when he was feeling particularly social.

"THUMP THUMP"

Their gazes connected for just a moment, but somehow, it caused Bright's heartbeat to accelerate. The unicorn took in a deep breath and exhaled. The pumping of his heart started to reinvigorate him.

" _No. I can't give up now. I'm still in this game."_ Bright thought to himself.

It was true. Bright still had 400 life points and as long as he held on to just one point, he could still duel. There was no use in moping now. The unicorn had to go all the way until the duel was over.

"THUMP THUMP THUMP"

Bright could feel it. His heart was pumping faster and faster. The next card could decide the whole game and all he had to do was draw it. He placed his hoof on the next card of his deck.

"THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP"

"Beat harder and harder, my ticking heart! Give me the power to keep fighting!" Bright shut his eyes and pulled his next card with all his faith resting on it. "DRAW!"

The blue pony's horn started to shine a bright yellow light that descended down from his horn to just over his chest where his heart was, where it started swinging back and forth, left and right, in perfect time with the unicorn's heartbeat. Then, the light faded and left behind a pendant that was already tied around Bright's neck. The pendant had a yellow crescent moon and pale blue star sculpted on it and at the underside of the moon, the pendant had a pointed base. The trinket swung back and forth like the light it came from.

Bright looked at the next card he drew. A white unicorn mage with long white mane, wearing a flowing blue cape and a thick linen cloth that masked his muzzle. His wizard's hat was pointed and adorned with blue green gems and he carried a long black staff that had a white circular structure at the very center and some white metal strips at both ends of the staff that curved as if they were blades on a scythe. Stargazer Magician, the third of Bright's favorite cards. A mage with the power to see among and beyond the stars and bend the very fabric of space.

Under normal circumstances, the card would have been useless. Stargazer only had an attack of 1200, but a more impressive defense of 2400. His special ability was also fairly exceptional, being similar to Timegazer's, where once per turn, he could protect one monster he controlled from destruction as a result of battle. However, he was a level 5 monster, and so, required one monster to tribute summon.

But the circumstances were far from normal. Bright's pendant glowed as it swung left to right and back again. It caused his three favorite cards to become illuminated with the same magical glow. Bright watched in surprise and awe as his cards were transformed right before his eyes. Each of them used to be regular effect monsters, with their card frames being orange, signifying that they were effect monsters, but now, they were orange near the top and green on the bottom, much like a spell card.

Odd-Eyes Dragon had received the most in change as his appearance had changed. The spikes on his back grew larger with two green jewels embedded on his right spike and one larger red jewel on his left. He gained armored spines that ran from his head all the way down his back to the very end of his tail. Lastly, he acquired two horns on the side of his head.

"THUMP THUMP THUMP"

With his heart beating as hard as it could, Bright knew exactly what he could do with his newly transformed cards. He could feel it. He took his two magician cards in his magical grasp as he glared directly at Prince Blueblood across from him.

"I use Scale 1 Stargazer Magician and Scale 8 Timegazer Magician to set the Pendulum Scale! I'm tipping the scales of destiny in my favor now!" Bright announced, setting his cards on opposite ends of his duel disk.

His disk glowed and the word "PENDULUM" appeared on the surface of the disk, illuminated in every color of the rainbow. Stargazer and Timegazer appeared from two columns of blue light on both sides of Bright and they rose upwards, high above the field. At their peak, a pendulum appeared at the center of the field, bearing striking resemblance to the unicorn's pendant. Stargazer had a large "1" underneath him in his light column and the same happened for Timegazer, except his number was "8". **[Pendulum Scale Set: 1 - 8]**

"I'm allowed to summon any number of monsters from my hoof that are between levels two and seven!" Bright said.

"What in bloody blazes is going on!?" Blueblood shouted, being completely dumbfounded by this new method of playing cards that he had never seen before.

"THUMP THUMP THUMP"

The giant pendulum above them started to swing back and forth between the Space-Time magicians as Bright intended to summon, drawing a line of light as it swung before deviating from a single back-and-forth line and forming a circle.

"Swing far, pendulum of my heart and soul! Carve the arc of victory across all of time and space! I Pendulum Summon! Come forth, my monsters!" Bright called as a portal appeared from the circle drawn by the pendant. Two streaks of light shot out from the portal as they formed the last two monsters in Bright's card hand.

"Performapal Whip Snake!" A purple viper with a dark blue top hat, orange and blue stars painted on both its cheeks, and a polka dot bowtie as well as a pink heart on a string tied to the end of its tail was warped to the field. **[ATK: 1700] [LV: 4]**

"Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" The dragon with eyes of red and green materialized with Whip Snake and let out a mighty roar. **[ATK: 2500] [LV: 7]**

"H-How…? How is that even possible…?" Blueblood asked, staring up at Odd-Eyes with an expression of shock.

"I activate my Whip Snake's special ability! Once per turn, I can switch the attack and defense points of one monster on the field for the whole turn! I choose Ignoble Knight of High Laundsallyn!" Bright commanded.

Whip Snake swung the heart charm at the end of its tail like a hypnotist would with a pocketwatch in front of Blueblood's Ignoble Knight and in an instant, the values of his attack and defense were swapped. **[ATK: 2100 - 900] [DEF: 900 - 2100]**

"No! My Knight!" The prince exclaimed.

"Now, Odd-Eyes! Attack Ignoble Knight with Spiral Flame Strike!" Bright declared.

Odd-Eyes began to charge a powerful blast of energy within his mouth, targeting the black unicorn.

"I activate my trap!" Blueblood countered. " Dimensional Prison! When one of your monsters attack, this card will banish your monster from the game! Say farewell to Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon!" He laughed.

"I don't think so, Bluebutt!" Bright smirked. "Timegazer's Pendulum effect activates!"

"Pendulum effect!?" The royal unicorn asked in sudden surprise.

"Yes! When a Pendulum Monster I control is attacking, Timegazer prevents you from activating trap cards! Infinity Gear Reverse!" The blue pony shouted.

The clock gear blade on Timegazer Magician's gauntlet that was on his foreleg extended far until it made a half-circle. The mage used his powers over the flow of time to reverse the clock back to before Blueblood's trap was activated. The revealed trap card returned to its original face down position.

"Go and continue your attack, Odd-Eyes!" Bright commanded.

"Well, your dragon's attack might cause me damage, but my Ignoble Knight will still survive, thanks to Noble Arms of Destiny! And I'll have plenty of life points to spare!"

"I hate to burst your bubble, 'Your Majesty,'" Bright used air quotes to emphasize the title. "but now my Odd-Eyes' special ability activates! When my dragon deals battle damage after attacking an opponent's monster, he deals double the damage!"

"WHAT!? NO!" Blueblood protested. "I won't let you! I activate the effect of Necro Gardna in the graveyard! This was another monster that was sent to my graveyard by the effect of my Graceful Charity. When one of your monsters attacks, I can banish this card from the graveyard and negate your attack!"

Blueblood banished his monster and then suddenly, Odd-Eyes' attack faded away.

"HA! Your attack has been stopped! Now you have no choice but to end your turn!" The prince laughed.

Bright smirked. "I don't think so! I activate from my hoof the quick spell card, Double or Nothing! When a monster I control had its attack negated, this spell instantly doubles my monster's attack points!"

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon suddenly had a shining golden aura surrounding him, filling him with energy. **[ATK: 2500 - 5000]**

"F-Five thousand attack points!?" Blueblood stuttered.

"You bet your bottom bit! Also, my monster is allowed to attack again! Go Odd-Eyes! Attack again with Spiral Flame Strike!"

The large dragon charged up an attack even more powerful than his first failed one. Energy gathered as the reptile took aim at the weakened Ignoble Knight and fired a devastating blast.

"And as you now know, Odd-Eyes deals double damage! Reaction Force!" Bright declared.

"Th-The total damage I would normally take is 4100...b-but if that's...d-doubled…!" The prince gulped.

"Then you've got 8200 points of damage headed your way!"

The blast connected with its target with amazing accuracy and the resulting explosion completely obliterated what remained of Blueblood's life points. The force of the explosion caused him to get tossed high into the air before landing on his head, getting knocked out. **[Blueblood LP: 3600 - 0]**

 **[BRIGHT: WIN] DUEL END**

The duel was decided and all the monsters on the field disappeared in a small burst of gold dust. For a moment, there was silence.

"THUMP THUMP THUMP"

Bright could only hear the sound of his heartbeat slowing down as his rush of adrenaline began to calm. He looked around and saw that the crowd that was watching his duel stared in awe, both at the blue unicorn and the defeated white unicorn. Then, suddenly, the crowd burst into loud cheers for Bright as they surrounded him. They all clamored to see the unicorn who demonstrated a new method of summoning that had never been seen before by anypony.

"That was phenomenal!"

"How did you do that!?"

"I really like your mane!"

Bright was a bit overwhelmed by the mob surrounding him, but soon all the commotion calmed down after the unicorn politely requested for everypony to settle down. Then, through the ecstatic crowd came the wall-eyed pegasus. She pushed her way through all the ponies to see the stallion that stood up for her.

"Mister! Mister!" She called, to which Bright turned his head her way to give her attention. "Thank you so much! Nopony ever put their hoof down for me like that."

"All I did was help a mare from being bullied, but still, you're very welcome. I was happy to." He smiled.

The pegasus pony gave the unicorn stallion a tight hug. Bright chuckled a little bit and returned it.

After some twenty or so minutes, the excitement of the duel faded and everypony had gone off their own way. The sun was setting as it was quickly becoming evening. By that time, the white unicorn who lost had awoken from unconsciousness and scurried off into hiding out of humiliation. Bright himself was sitting on a nearby bench. He gave a sigh as he looked at the pendant that he now had hanging around his neck. Its swinging from during the duel had long been halted as it was now just still. The unicorn held it in his hoof before taking it off and using magic to hold it up as he examined it.

" _How did I get this?"_ He wondered to himself.

Through the action of the duel, he never noticed it appearing after his final draw. Then, he looked at his dueling deck after taking it out of his duel disk. He shuffled through his cards, soon finding his favorite cards: Timegazer Magician, Stargazer Magician, and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon. Once ordinary monster cards, now Pendulum monsters. Pendulum...That was the word.

" _How did I know how to Pendulum Summon? How did my cards even get like this?"_ He wondered some more, tilting his head back to look at the twilit sky.

It was strange. Very strange. And no matter how hard Bright thought, he couldn't come up with a clear answer. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe it was some hidden power he had inside of him that was just awakened from hibernation. The unicorn shook his head as he looked at his cards once again for a moment. He stored them back in his duel disk as he got up and started to trot home.

Pendulum. A weight suspended from a fixed point, able to swing back and forth freely. Each apex reached by the swinging pendulum signifies a change. It is guaranteed that when the pendulum reaches as far as it can in one direction, it will swing back in the opposite way. Change is also guaranteed in life. When bad times happen now, good times are sure to follow. The strange thing about pendulums is that they always keep a perfect rhythm. One peak reached by the device could be one tick of the clock.

The heart, on the other hand, beats freely and serves as proof of life. It thumps slowly and steadily when times are calm, then, when the experience of life happens, moments of joy, happiness, excitement, love, anger, anxiety, or fear, the heart beats faster, pounding in the chest to meet the intensity of those moments. Every moment has a rhythm to it. In a way, the heart could be considered its own kind of pendulum, always keeping the beat of life and the beat of the moment.

END


End file.
